Friday, March 6, 2009

A great tool to have around is Puppy Linux. Its a very small Linux distribution that can be loaded and booted from a USB thumbdrive. This week when a hard drive went bad and a teacher had some important files that had not been backed up. We booted it from the USB with Puppy Linux and navigated through the Windows XP file system and saved her files. This will not work on all occastions, but when it does. Its a great thing.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Quick Media Converter is often a life saver when working between multiple formats. I have yet to find a media file that it will not convert. It is simple to use and the interface is self explanatory so no manuals or reading required.

Like most freeware websites it is inundate with ads for products that do the same thing, but you have to to pay for them. Quick Media Converter is free.

As a free bonus the Microsoft Reps informed us of this handy site that installs a Codec package on your machine. It even allows .mp4 to play in Windows Media Player and if you are running Vista it will allow you to edit .mp4 in Windows Movie Maker. I have found this to be extremely helpful.